Chicago considers ending sister-city relationship with Moscow

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council is preparing to make a show of solidary with Ukraine over Russia's occupation of the Crimean peninsula.

A resolution passed Tuesday by a City Council committee asks the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to suspend the sister city agreement with Moscow. A second resolution calls for solidarity with Ukraine in urging a peaceful end to the Russian occupation.

The full City Council votes on the resolutions in April.

Chicago's sister city arrangement with Moscow has been in place since April 1997. Tuesday's resolution seeks the suspension of the relationship until Russia withdraws its troops from Crimea.

President Barack Obama, while visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday, characterized Russia's placing of military in Ukraine's Crimea region as a sign of weakness by a regional power.